Not once to make a fuss until it's too late
by CaptianWriter
Summary: Whilst on a mission with his fellow Avengers Hawkeye takes an arrow for Black Widow no one thinks much of it. But when things take a turn for the worse it's down to everyone else to save him before it's too late.
1. Chapter 1

**Not one to make a fuss until it's too late- Chapter 1**

 _2:34am: Hydra secret base… somewhere in Europe_

"Katniss! Cover me!" Tony shouts to Hawkeye over the sounds of the guns and sirens.

"Shut it Stark!" laughs Clint back to Tony whilst taking out three Hydra soldiers that were closing in on Tony in a matter of seconds. "Thanks Legolas!" Tony shouts back his voice ringing over the now empty hydra courtyard.

"Victory is ours my fellow avengers!" Booms Thor, grinning broadly he lands with a loud thump next to Tony making him jump which makes the others Smirk at his expense.

"Well I think that's the last of them" Says Steve strolling up to Clint, Thor and Tony, brushing dirt off of his uniform and stowing away his shield.

"Wait, where's Nat… ARHHH" Clint begins to ask before Natasha bursts out from behind him making him yelp in surprise, Tony returns Clint's earlier smirk, looking extremely smug with himself and Natasha stands beside Clint smirking while reloading her pistols and smoothing her wild red hair into so sort of order.

The avengers form a large circle as they wait for their pickup to arrive they recount their favorite bits of the battle.

"Hail Hydra!" Screeches a voice from behind the avengers, before anyone can register what is happening there is an arrow streaming towards Natasha, but Clint roughly shoves her out of the way, the arrow embeds itself roughly in the archer's upper arm. Working in split seconds he pulls out his bow and pulls out the arrow from his arm and shoots it back towards the hydra worker's neck, the worker falls and dies instantly. Clint falls to one knee groaning and Natasha rushes over and rips of her sleeve and hold the material to the fallen avenger's wound.

"Well… that was unexpected" Tony says looking dazzled.

"Wow, no shit Sherlock" Replies Clint with a grin but grimaces because he jerked his arm, Tony pulls out his phone and dials Bruce, who answers on the second ring.

"Yeah Bruce bring the sewing equipment, Barton pulled a Matrix and got shot in the arm by his own arrow… yep his own arrow… yes he's next to me… why should I have to stop laughing?, it's funny!" Tony laughs down the phone to Banner.

"Shut up Stark!" Natasha snarls at Tony in such a cold voice it makes Tony freeze at the tone, nearly dropping his phone in the process. Natasha grins a her victory, which makes Clint burst out laughing despite the throbbing in his upper arm, and they all start laughing, even Natasha cracks a smile. Another 10 minutes pass and Clint is begins to pale slightly, but then their aircraft arrives, piloted by Banner who rushes out clutching a medical aid bag. Thor and Steve help the slightly dizzy archer to his feet and lead him to the aircraft whilst Bruce assesses the damage to his arm.

"Luckily the arrow didn't go too deep, so no permanent damage to your arm is likely, but you will need a few stitches to stop the bleeding and some anti-inflammatory medication to help with the swelling" Says Bruce peering at the wound on Clint's arm. He pauses and warns Clint to brace himself for the stitches but Clint doesn't even wince during the procedure. "And done, the wound is no longer bleeding but by the looks of things you should be left with a small scar but we could…" Bruce begins once he finishes patching the archer's arm up but Clint butts in "I don't really care, just add it to the other ones, anyways I'd feel bad leaving a fight without a souvenir". To this Banner chuckles, shaking his head he hands Clint a bottle of anti-inflammatory pills "Now take 2 a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon and take it easy for a few days, that means no missions, you've lost a bit too much blood for my liking Barton" Bruce warns Clint despite the young archer's protests.

The Avengers eventually land at their Tower in New York and they all disembark to go and get some rest, none of them sleep well in the air, apart from Thor who fell into a deep sleep the moment he sat down, Tony took the opportunity to draw a lightning bolt on God of Thunder's forehead or his "thorhead" according to Tony and proclaimed his new name was "Harry Potthor", earning a few smiles from his teammates but Clint knew he was only doing it to make him feel better which he appreciated.

They get off the aircraft, Thor instantly goes to help Clint who gently pushes him away, as much as he likes Thor he doesn't want to be babied by him, he'd had enough fuss from Banner earlier.

"Goodnight my fellow friends, rest well!" Says Thor to the avengers, in his booming voice making the undercafinated team wince.

"Night Harry Potthor" mutters Tony under his breath

"What was that metal man?, you cannot insult a God" Booms a confused Thor over the groaning of his team mates at the bad pun.

"Okay sorry big guy. I thorgot you hated puns" Laughs out Tony before darting in to the elevator, cackling with laughter. Bruce follows, but before stepping into the next elevator he turns to Clint, who was leaning against a wall "you feeling okay buddy?".

"yeah yeah just tired I guess" Replies Clint huffily before strolling off towards his floor.


	2. Chapter 2

*Authors note: I rewrote this chapter as I'd rushed this chapter and didn't feel like it was up to scratch, sorry for any confusion - CW

10:30 am: The Avengers tower - Clint's POV

"Barton sir?, I do believe you requested an alarm call" asks Jarvis in his usual polite voice.

Groaning from underneath his covers Clint replies with a groggy "wha…", he stops and clears his throat. "What's going on" he asks his voice less sleepy than before. He hadn't gotten much sleep.

"Sir your alarm call? It's 10:30am" Replies Jarvis swiftly.

"Right right" answer the archer tiredly getting out of his bed, he feels strange, then he see's why. His bed and his clothes are soaked with sweat, groaning Clint strips the bedding and strolls towards his shower but on the way there he is forced to stop and clutch the wall for support, he sways dizzily for a few moments before gritting his teeth and taking a shower, but the shower offers his aching muscles little relief, it's like every movement he made was causing his entire body to shriek in protest.

Whilst drying off he catches sight of himself in his mirror. He looks dreadful, his under eyes dark purple and his skin is much paler than normal and his wound looks awful too, swollen, the bruising has spread down his arm making any moment to that arm painful. Pulling on some jeans and a t shirt the archer leaves his room to go and ask Banner to look it over, it's probably nothing but the archer cannot afford any damage to his bow arm.

Strolling into Bruce's lab he see's that he has been beaten to the scientist. Tony and Natasha are already with him, Tony and Bruce are in deep conversation whilst Natasha sits on a table sipping coffee and making odd comments. Sighing Clint decides to come back later but it's too late Tony spots him and gives him a friendly wave "Morning sleeping beaut... Woah Katniss you look like crap" exclaims Tony, his dark eyes showing a mix of concern and amusement at his own joke

"Wow always the charmer Stark. Didn't get much sleep last night" Clint replies bluntly narrowing his eyes at Tony and pouring himself some black coffee from the lab's coffee machine, Tony shrugs and looks away supposedly satisfied with his answer, but Bruce isn't as easily convinced. "Then why are you holding your arm out like that?" He asks, crossing his arms and looking genuinely concern for the younger man.

"Because the bruising has spread a bit" Replies Clint, praying the doctor making a huge fuss, he hated looking weak even in front of his closest friends so he quickly put on a front.

"May I see?" asks Bruce in a tone that suggested Clint didn't have a choice anyway.

Clint goes to roll up his right sleeve and Natasha looks away tactfully and nudges Tony to do the same. Nodding gratefully Clint pulls up his sleeve and Bruce's eyebrows knit closer together "hmmm there shouldn't be this much swelling, the arrow didn't go that far in. Did you take your anti-inflammatory pills?"

"No i completely forgot" Admits Clint embarrassed at his forgetfulness.

"Well that may have something to do with the increased swelling but the bruising and fever is still unexplained..."

"I don't have a fever" argues Clint, annoyed.

"Jarvis. What is Barton's temperature?" Asks Tony sharply, eyeing the archer's pale sweaty face.

"38.5 degrees sir and his pulse is slightly slower than average. I suggest he remain well hydrated and gets plenty of bed rest" Replies Jarvis, earning a smirk from Tony and an eye roll from Natasha "well you can't argue with Jarvis" says Tony smugly, he never misses an opportunity to irritate his fellow avengers.

"knock it of Tony" snaps Natasha, glancing at Clint judging his reaction, but Clint says nothing.

"God Clint... why didn't you say anything?, you must feel awful" asks Bruce sympathetically. Clint doesn't take his eyes of his shoes, he's feels weak and childish.

"Alright everybody out" commands Bruce tactfully sensing Clint's embarrassment of having the other present, Tony opens his mouth to protest but Natasha grabs him by the ear and pulls him after her which Clint returns with a grateful nod.

Once Tony and Natasha have left Bruce tests the younger man's temperature, heart rate, reflexes all of which he judges to be and take a much closer look at his arm and come to the conclusion that Clint's wound is becoming infected or this is the beginning of a nasty bout of flu brought on from exhaustion, so he administers a large does of antibiotics just in case of infection and orders Barton to bed banning him from straining himself too much "That includes going on missions" Bruce sharply reminds him before Clint leaves to return to his bedroom.

Natasha is sitting in the hallway waiting for Clint. "You alright? Don't tell me you're fine" she asks standing up and looking Clint straight in the eyes. He tells her what Bruce told him and excuses himself to go and take a nap but to his surprise Natasha follows him.

"What are you doing?" he asks confused.

"coming with you, someone's got to look after you" she replies with a small smile

"I can take care of my..." Clint starts

"Clint you couldn't keep a cactus alive" Natasha cuts in "and besides I'm returning the favor, you took a freaking arrow in the arm for me yesterday"

Seeing he won't win he allows Natasha to finish making his bed and makes him breakfast, then tucks him back into bed. She hums softly whilst she does this. She turns back to Clint who is grinning despite his fever. "what?" she asks defensively, crossing her arms.

"Nothing. I've never seen you so... nurturing?" Clint says, still smiling slightly

"Well I've never seen you so docile so there's a first, what was that in the lab?" Natasha shoots back reflectively

Clint smile falters and he looks away "I hate being seen as weak" he replies

"But we wouldn't judge you, I especially wouldn't judge you, Clint you took a freaking arrow in the arm for me" Says Natasha, sitting down on the bed next to him. He doesn't reply, Natasha begins to stroke his hair softly causing the archer to finally drop his guard and close his eyes and eventually falls asleep but not before mumbling "night Nat" into his pillow. Natasha smiles and Clint is sound asleep in seconds, Natasha can feel his fever through his hair after a few moments of stroking it and a nagging feeling starts to stab at her stomach, she tries to swallow the feeling "it's just the flu or something, this going to be a long couple of days" she thinks to herself she curls up beside him.


	3. Chapter 3

3:48 pm – The avengers tower – Clint's bedroom – Natasha Romanoff's POV

Natasha is jolted awake by an awful sound, the sound of her best friend hurling up his breakfast on the floor beside her. "Shit how long have I been asleep?" she thinks to herself. She swiftly pulls herself out of bed and is not prepared for the scene that meets her eyes. Clint is lying in a pool of his own rancid smelling vomit, the smell made her stomach lurch.

"Clint? Are you awake?" Natasha asks, frantically shaking his shoulder.

"mmmm" comes the weakest sound she has ever heard come out of Clint. It's barely audible, but it's enough at least he isn't face down in his vomit.

Wordlessly they lock eyes and Natasha can see the tears building up in his eyes, she sees the beads of sweat breaking out on his pale forehead and his body trembling with fever, "how did he get so much worse in a few hours?" She wonders. It makes her stomach hurt to look at him looking so helpless and desperate. Without saying a word she hurries to his side and helps him to his feet but he sways on the spot, his vision blurring in and out of focus and he nearly blacks out, she lets him lean on her shoulder and steers him towards his bathroom and sits him down like a baby on the toilet seat and begins to fill the bath with warm water. She pauses "Jarvis, give me an update on Clint's temperature" she commands. "39. 6 Miss Romanoff" replies Jarvis "shall I contact Mr Banner for assistance?" And at this Clint manages to grunt out a "No", his voice sounds raw like his throat is sandpaper. Natasha decides to respect the archer's wishes but if his fever didn't improve within the next half an hour she would have to call Banner, she adjusts the water to make the bath cooler in the hope that will bring down her friend's fever.

"Okay the bath is run, ready?" Natasha asks as she ties her wild red hair out of her face.

The archer looks at her through his fever clouded vision and wordless asks her to leave by glancing towards the door, she shakes her head "No Clint I can't leave you, you just nearly fainted just standing up, you could pass out and drown" she replies bluntly without a hint of embarrassment. Clint narrows his eyes challenging her. "Well I'll go have to get one of the boys then if you don't want me here" she warns starting to leaves and to that he looks down clearly dismissing the idea hurriedly. It's a good thing they learnt to communicate without words. "Okay I won't look I promise, and keep your pants on if they aren't covered in vomit too, I don't need to be seeing that" she jokes, earning a small smile from Clint.

Slowly she eases him out of his vomit soiled clothing, she hold her breath to stop herself gagging, luckily she has a strong stomach. After his soaked t shirt is removed he pukes into the toilet until there is nothing left in his stomach to throw up, he sways dangerous from side to side but manages (with the help of Nat) to get into the bathtub and Natasha sits on the toilet and looks away while he washes away the vomit and is careful not to get his bandaged right arm wet (which was luckily spared from the sick).

When he is finished he makes a small grunt to let Natasha know and she helps him out of the tub and wraps him in a clean towel and sits him onto the toilet seat again. "Jarvis, temperature update" she asks "38.9 degrees miss Romanoff" replies Jarvis. She contemplates calling for Bruce to check over Clint, she decides there is no harm in it, "better safe than sorry" she thinks. But she decides to dress Clint first so he will feel less undignified. "Okay Clint I'm going to get you some clean clothes, don't try and get up okay? I'll be back in a minute" she promises, smoothing the archer's hair back gently, she can feel his fever raging against her finger. Definitely time to call Banner she thinks to herself.

"th… thanks Nat" Croaks Clint and he leans back against the wall and closes his eyes, clearly in a lot of pain.

"Don't mention it Barton" she replies and hurriedly walks into his bedroom to find some clean clothes.

Then from the bathroom she hears someone fall down and she drops the clothes she was holding and sprints into the bathroom narrowly avoid the pool of vomit on the bedroom floor. "Clint!" she shrieks as she looks on in horror as she sees her best friend lying on the floor, his body jerking like it's a possessed puppet, a huge gash has opened on his forehead from the fall causing blood to run down his face, and there is blood pouring out of his mouth and he begins to make horrible choking sounds, his blue eyes roll upwards into his skull. The shock lasts mere milliseconds and rushes to his aid and rolls him onto his side in an effort to keep his air ways clear and removes any surrounding objects away from the archer's convulsing body "JARVIS CALL BANNER IN HERE NOW!" Natasha shrieks and her eyes wonder back to Clint who is still convulsing but at a slower speed. She can't lose her best friend. He's all she has.


	4. Chapter 4

4:06PM – The Avenger's Tower – Bruce's POV

Bruce is in the midst of an experiment with Tony when Jarvis delivers the news he'd never wanted to hear. "Sir Barton's condition has deteriorated and he is currently having multiple seizures and requires imitate medical attention" delivers Jarvis swiftly.

Bruce drops the file he was looking through and is glued to the spot until Tony grabs his hand and pulls him roughly along after him. They both sprint to Bruce's medical supplies and grab what they think they'll need and rush towards Clint's room without saying a word to each other.

The scene that meets the pair's eyes makes them both shudder. Clint is scarily still and his pale face is covered in blood, Natasha is bent over Clint checking that he is still breathing, her face unreadable as she explains what happened "Clint's fever went up and I went to get him some clothes and th… then I found him like this" she explains, her voice on the verge of breaking, she doesn't look them in the eyes.

Wordlessly Bruce gets to work checking Clint's vital signs and gasps at his 41.4 degree fever and sluggish pulse. _How did the archer deteriorate so quickly?_ Banner thinks to himself. Working in split seconds he applies a compression bandage to Clint's forehead wound and commands Natasha to apply pressure to stem the flow of blood still pouring out of the sizeable wound until Bruce can stich it up. He tries to locate the source of the bleeding that causing blood to still dribbling out of Clint's mouth., he finds multiple punctures on his tongue that suggests that the archer must have bitten through his tongue when he fell or whilst he was having seizures, luckily the bleeding isn't bad enough to affect the archer's breathing. Then the doctor remembers Clint's arm wound, he swiftly pulls of the bandage that was covering it and is shocked to see how swollen it is, the skin surround the small puncture is red hot and is oozing fluid. _It is clearly infected but it doesn't make sense, how could it be this infected? it looked fine this morning_ thinks Banner puzzled and tries to hide his expression from the others to avoid panicking them further.

"Stark get me the stretcher from my lab!" he orders Tony, who had been standing helplessly in the doorway. Glad to be able to help he rushes to Banner's lab and returns with the stretcher in minutes and helps Bruce load a still unconscious Clint onto, taking care not to jolt him.

The three avengers are hurriedly pushing the stretcher towards the elevator when Clint begins to have another seizure, this one worse than the last. His entire body jerks uncontrollably and trio is left helplessly watching, waiting for his to stop convulsing. But this seizure brings a new problem, his wounds' bleeding dramatically speeds up from the convulsion and Clint's mouth dangerously fills with blood causing him to choke and splutter on his own blood. Bruce rushes in and does his best to keep his airways clear by rolling him onto his side and tilting his head up. Finally after what feels like hours Clint's fit stops and the trio wastes no time rushing him to Bruce's medical lab on the floor below.

When the small team arrives at the lab they quickly deposit Clint onto the nearest bed and Bruce dismissed Natasha and Tony with a flick of his hand explaining that he works faster when people aren't in his way. Natasha opens her mouth to argue, to beg to help in any way and Tony tries to pull her out of the room and she reflectively punches him in the face and then realisesing what she just did she hides her face in her hands and Tony gently steers her out of the room, gingerly clutching a tissue to his bleeding nose.

With the others gone Bruce wastes no time hooking Barton up to variety of different machines to monitor his vital signs (which are still dangerously slow) and he also administers a cocktail of antibiotics to treat the infected wound and a high dosage of Acetaminophen to bring down the archer's high fever, which Bruce suspects is causing the violent seizures, and as a precaution Bruce attaches him to a saline drip to further help bring down Clint's high fever.

Once Bruce is satisfied that the Clint will remain stable for now he gently cleans out Clint forehead wound ,which is a few inches across, then delicately stiches the skin together. Satisfied with his handy work Bruce gets to work cleaning the rest of the blood off of Clint's face and neck revealing just how pale his face is. He checks at the infected wound on Clint's right arm and is frustrated that he cannot wash it out because the infection seems to be congregating under the skin, and Bruce doesn't want to risk surgery in Clint's currently condition so he wraps it in a clean bandage and hopes the antibiotics will take effect soon and ease some of the swelling.

That's when the archer stops breathing altogether. ..


	5. Chapter 5

Arthur's note: Sorry for the wait, had loads of uni open days at the weekend! Hope you enjoy this chapter and I should be updating a lot more frquentlythis week! - CW

4:35pm- The Avenger's Tower – Banner's Lab : Tony's POV

Tony takes deep even breaths to steady him; the bleeding from his nose is under control now, more than he can say for Clint, the last he saw of his fellow teammate was him lying unconscious on a table pale and covered in his own blood being hooked up to too many machines and wires to count.

Tony looks towards Natasha, she is stiffly stood by the door her fist curled, body tense waiting for any updates on her fallen friend, While she is desperately trying to keep on a brave front Tony can see the cracks begin to show in her expressionless mask. While she'd never admit to be scared it is clear to Tony that she is terrified, her blood covered (a mix of his and Clint's blood) fists quiver from the effort of trying to keep herself from falling apart, like Clint she is talented at concealing her emotions to keep from appearing weak, even in front of her only friends. It deeply unsettles Tony to see Natasha, miss I'll break your face for looking at me, Romanoff so obviously scared, even if she won't admit it.

"Hey Nat are…" Tony begins taking a small cautious step towards the spy.

"Don't call me that Stark!" cuts in Natasha her voice lacking her usually venom but she sharply snaps her head to face Tony and he judges her expression still too threatening to argue with, especially after the punch to the face, which Tony is sure broke his nose in more than one place. He quickly takes a step back to avoid a further attack, but it doesn't come, she just turns back towards the door and waits and Tony takes a seat on the floor and tries to wipe the worst of the blood off of his face with his already blood soaked sleeve.

Unexpectedly the noise of loud beeping and Bruce's swearing reaches Tony's ears. He leaps up from where he was sitting and runs towards the door but Natasha reaches the door first and pushes past him to rush in first, followed by Tony.

In the lab he sees Bruce soaked in his own sweat desperately trying to insert a breathing tube into Clint's lifeless body. Tony freezes from across the room and he watches Bruce and Natasha finally manage to get the archer's breathing under control, they both instantly relax and begin to work around Clint's body. Tony's head begins to spin and his legs feel like jelly beneath him and he stumbles back into a wall and slides down it. His breathing is becoming faster and faster as his anxiety attack mercilessly takes told of him. Clint and Natasha aren't the only ones good at hiding their problems. Tony had been having major anxiety attacks since he saw what lay beyond the earth's atmosphere. Trying to remember what Bruce taught him Tony breathes slowly in through his nose and out of his mouth but all he can see is Clint dying, then all of his other friends dying leaving him in the worst possible place he could be… alone.

Tony stumbles to his feet and darts out of the room, he runs like a wild man trying desperately to get the images of his fellow avenger's dead bodies out of his head and he runs head first into Steve returning from a mission in Europe.

"Jeez, Tony watch where… oh my God what's happened" Cap begins to asks once he sees Tony's obviously broken nose, sweaty face and generally terrified expression and pulls the fallen avenger to his feet in one fluid motion eager to find out what is wrong. Tony explains what has happened since Cap left for Europe the night they got back, he explains Clint's strange illness, his sudden deterioration and how he had his nose broken

"Good lord, that's awful, where are they now?" Asks Steve his expression showing obviously concern.

"In Banner's lab" replies Tony; his anxiety attack beginning ease, Steve always made stressful situations clearer somehow.

"Well we need to get your nose sorted out; you're starting to look like… um… Owen Wilson!" jokes Steve, straining to remember the actor's name.

Tony smiles at the captain's attempt at an appropriate pop culture reference and allows Steve to accompany him to Banner to get his nose, which started to bleed again, patched up.

When the two enter the lab they see Natasha dozing beside Clint, he head resting beside his wire covered hand. Bruce is over by the coffee machine seemingly attempting to drown himself with black coffee.

"Whoa buddy slow down!" warms Cap, making the weary doctor look up from his mug, his face is pale and strained looking and his hands shake from a mix of stress and caffeine.

"What's wrong, is it Clint" the doctor asks frantically looking over a Clint, who is motionless on the bed.

"No he's fine, it's Tony's nose that's the problem" Replies Steve, placing a hand on Bruce's shoulder in an attempt to calm him.

Without words Bruce leads Tony to a nearby bed and assess his nose as being broken in two places and put on gloves and warns Tony that the sitting process will be extremely painful, Tony nods sharply and clenches every bone in his body, Steve offers his hand explain that Tony can't possibly break it, Tony excepts the hand gratefully.

"ARRRHHH!" grunts Tony as his nose is painfully reset and he bears down as hard as he could onto Steve hand but Steve doesn't even blind, the noise jolts Natasha awake and she frantically looks towards Clint before releasing where the shriek was really coming from and looks down ashamed.

When Tony's nose is bandaged Bruce updates the avenger's on Clint's condition.

"Well his temperature is still far too high but I'm keeping him hydrated which will hopefully stop his fits, as I think the fever caused them in the first place. But his other vitals don't look good at all, his pulse is weak and erratic and his arm wound doesn't look good… I… I don't understand how he got so bad within a day, I mean this looks like a case of serve blood poisoning but I've never seen it occur so quickly. That Hyrdra soldier must have poisoned that arrow, I've sent off Clint's blood panel to numerous Labourites but none of them have seen anything like this, but they too have linked it to some form of newly developed poison" Bruce explains, running his hands through his sweaty hair.

"Dam Hydra!" exclaims Steve, pounding a nearby table with his fist.

"Well what do we do now?" asks Tony swiftly, not wanting to waste any more time.

"My suggestion would be to return to that base and see if there are any more samples of the poison there and bring it back so we can try and develop some sort of anti-virus or some form of cure" replies Bruce

"Well what are we…" begins Steve

"Wait and if that doesn't hold the answers?" asks Tony cutting through Steve.

"I guess we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to that I guess, but I can't imagine Clint will make it much longer without treatment, I've tried everything I can think of but by the looks of thing I'm going to have to put him on more life support because he's just not coping" Replies Bruce hanging his head.


	6. Chapter 6

Later that evening - The Avenger's Tower – Steve's POV

"Natasha, you're staying right?" Ask Steve from the doorway whilst straightening his crumpled uniform.

Natasha looks from Steve to Clint and back to Steve. "Says who Rodger?" She challenges, resenting being told what to even if she does want to stay.

He can see Natasha deliberating anxiously in her mind but he stops her there, she clearly does not wanting to leave the archer's side.

"It's just, you should be here with him, you're easily the closest to him so maybe it'll help him?" suggest Steve tactfully but attepts to keep an air of authority to his voice so Natasha doesn't think he is pitying her. One thing she hates most is pity especially from her friends.

"Fine" Says Natasha looking back down to Clint's pale face, secretly relieved that she didn't have explain why she wanted to remain by her best friend's side. Steve obviously knew how close they were and would never dream of judging her but there are some things better left unsaid in her opinion.

Steve nods and strides out, but not before taking a last fleeting look at his friends, He doesn't know what is more painful to see, Clint on death's door or the broken look in Natasha's eyes. He's scared this will be the last time he will see Clint. _No I can't think like that, if I give up what's to stop him from doing the same_ thinks Steve shaking his head to clear the ugly thought and marches himself out of the room stiffly.

He is completely exhausted but there is no time to rest so he heads off in search of Tony, who he finds gearing up on their landing strip besides the aircraft, his face scarily blank but it snaps back into its usual smirk, but even from a distance Steve can see the strain already taking over Tony's face, the vein throbbing in his temple from the effort of trying to look like he too isn't breaking inside.

"Hey, is Jersey Thor on his way yet?" calls Tony in a weak attempt at humour, _Natasha isn't the only one capable at putting on a front_ thinks Steve to himself, but he decides not to push Tony and gives him an eye roll at the pun.

"He says he'll meet us there, I haven't told him what's actually wrong with Barton… I… I wanted to tell him face to face." Steve replies, Tony nods sharply in response and they both board the aircraft.

They fly as fast as physically possible towards the hydra base. They don't say a word for hours, both avengers' minds are going over and over the last few days both wondering if they could have done something to help, wondering if they could have noticed something was wrong sooner, or maybe they should have made sure the courtyard was cleared properly and Clint would never have had to push Natasha out of the way of that blasted arrow.

Steve looks over at Tony whose dark eyes stare blankly ahead at the night sky, even though the plane is on autopilot he clutches the steering wheel with a vice like grip like it was a lifeline or it is his only grip on reality. Steve looks down at his hands are realises he's been doing the same time.

"You too, huh?" Tony mutters, turning his head to see what Steve was looking at.

"I didn't even notice" Steve mumbles back

"Neither did I, it's a stress thing" Tony admits. They both remove their clammy hands from the steering wheel.

"What are we going to do Tony?" asks Steve abruptly, looking at his shoes shaking his, his voice sound desperate.

There is a long pause before Tony says "I honestly don't know, find the poison these stupid puppets used and get our asses back to Banner"

Steve narrows his eyes slightly at the curse word, but decides not to say anything which earns a small smile from Tony. "Well let's hope we get there soon, what's our eta?" asks Steve adjusting his seatbelt

"Well if we keep this speed up we should be there in a few hour…" Tony begins to reply before being interrupted by a huge crash on the side of the ship.

"What was?!..." beings Steve racing to his feet but it interrupted by a smug booming voice.

"Good evening brothers!" Boom Thor's voice from outside, even over the wind every word is audible.

"Please don't tell me he's holding onto the side of the ship…" Begins Steve rolling his eyes.

"Yep. He's on the side of the ship alright" Replies Tony smiling and shaking his head at the God of Thunder's antics

Steve sighs and opens the door and braces himself against the strong winds coming from the open hatch, Thor enters and greets the captain with an almighty slap on the back and a wide grin but as soon as his eyes adjust to the light his grin falters slightly as he notices the strained look on Steve's face, he turns from Steve to Tony like a concerned puppy and sees the troubled look clouding his eyes too.

"Your faces reveal hurt my brothers, what is it that is troubling you?" Asks Thor his voice slightly less booming then it was before but it still makes Steve's ears hurt after the hours of silence.

Steve and Tony look at each other and Tony looks down at his feet clearly refusing to be the one to tell Thor what happened.

"It's Barton…" Steve begins

"Ah yes I was wondering where our young friend had gotten too, is he going to meet us at the base?" Booms Thor his usually jolly tone fading, his face growing more concerned with each word realising that his fellow avengers grow ever more silence.

"Barton is with Banner... in intensive care, we think he was poisoned by that arrow he took for Nat the other day ad he caught some form of fast acting infection or virus from the poison… it doesn't look good" Steve rushes out each word pains him to say, Tony just grunts and looks away his hands gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turn white.

Thor stops where he is and frowns towards the ground, then a few moments later he asks in a quiet voice "So what is our current plan of action, why do we not remain by our fellow comrade's side?" Thor's voice is so unlike his usual jolly boom both Tony and Steve has to check that his lips are moving.

"We're going back to their base to find the poison or any evidence of it because Bruce believes that it must be a newly developed one because no laboratory on earth has heard of it before… and if we don't find if for more testing… Clint probably won't make it much longer without a cure" Tony mumbles from the control panel not facing them, shielding his face from their stares by staring straight ahead.

The three Avengers fall into silence for the rest of the journey there, none of them daring to ask the question on all of their minds. What will happen if they can't find it?


	7. Chapter 7

The Avenger's Tower – Bruce's Lab – 1:34am

" Natasha?" Bruce begins to ask, the doctor's soft voice almost makes Natasha jolt in surprise at the sudden sound but she doesn't even blink, she simply remains fixed to her chair beside the bed, watching over Clint. Like a hawk. She doesn't respond to Bruce, she's not in the mood to talk; she's not in the mood for the return of Bruce's annoyingly optimistic outlook, which vanished about an hour ago when the archer's heart stopped twice in the space of 10 minutes and she saw Bruce's face completely break. She's had enough of seeing her friends crack. She shakes her head to clear the memory; _this is like a nightmare_ thinks Natasha to herself.

Clint. He's all she can think about. She looks at his face for the hundredth time; it's like looking down at a different person, a stranger almost. This pale fragile person lying on the bed is nothing like Clint. Nothing like her Clint, her Clint is strong, loud and resilient but this person just looks broken. The archer's face is even more deathly pale than it was before, wires and tubes feed in and out of the his frail body, after the second time his heart stopped Banner put him on more life support machines so the steady beeping from all the different ICU machines fills the room with a hauntingly rhythmic chorus . _He can't even breathe by himself anymore._ She thinks sadly to herself, she can feel her face beginning to drop but then she remembers she's not alone in the room and quickly draws her face back into its usual unreadable mask.

She looks over her shoulder, towards the paper strewn desk where Banner is sat to see that he is watching her and by the look on his face saw her face slip, she kicks herself for looking so weak in front of him.

"Natasha it's okay" Bruce tries to reassure her, but she doesn't reply, instead she just throws him an angry glare that speaks for itself.

But the doctor doesn't give up "Natasha, your best friend is in a medically induced coma you can show some form of emotion. You don't have to keep putting this front on in front of me. I would never judge you" He struggles to keep his voice steady because in reality it kills him to see Natasha look upset and there is nothing he can do to help her.

Natasha still says nothing but he can see her eyebrows draw together in the effort of trying to keep it together.

"He's my best friend too; he's all of ours…" begins Bruce before being cut off by a sudden loud burst of urgent beeping. He rushes to his feet and hurries over to Clint's bedside.

"What's wrong with him!" shrieks Natasha, frantically digging her nails into her hands and rushes to Bruce's sides, shaking from head to toe.

But Bruce doesn't reply, for several tense seconds Bruce says nothing, he's bend over the machines agitatedly fiddling with wires and tubes. The frantic beeping comes to an abrupt halt.

"Lose wire" Bruce pants straitening himself, visibly sagging with relief with sweat pouring down his face.

Natasha gasps with relief and shakily sinks back into her chair. Her breath coming in short bursts as she tries to get a hold of herself then but her eyes water dangerously. She suddenly leaps to her feet and throws a nearby tray across the room shrieking with frustration at the situation they are in. Furious at the fact it took a lose wire to nearly unwind her.

Bruce jolts with surprise at the violent outburst. The tray crashes into a wall behind him with a loud crash and it breaks in half. He stares at the broken tray for a few moments then looks towards Nat who has curled herself into a ball on the floor, concealing her face with her hands. He'd never seen her like this. Not even when New York was set to be blown off the face of the earth.

He stands awkwardly a few feet from Natasha whose shoulder shake with concealed sobs. He waits for her to regain her composure knowing she'd hate for him to see her face, he tactfully busies himself with ensuring that Clint's machines are hooked up properly to prevent another nasty surprise and to give her time to recover . After a few moments he turns back to Natasha, her shoulders have stopped shaking but she still hides her face with her hands. That's when Bruce notices they are covered with fresh blood; the blood runs down her wrists like scarlet rain droplets.

"Nat!" Bruce cries rushing to her side, concerned.

She mumbles something from under her hands but Bruce cannot hear her, he thinks it was something like "Don't call me that" but he doesn't have time to check.

He gently eases her bloody hands away from her face; she resists at first out of reflex then just allows him to take her hands. After taking a quick glance at her blood covered nails he knows where the blood is coming from, she must have dug her nails into her hands a bit too hard. Bruce quickly cleans the deep cuts on her palms that her nails made and bandages them; he then goes onto tenderly wipe the blood off her wrists, arms and face.

"Wait, why is some of this blood dried?" enquires Bruce frowning but Natasha doesn't respond instead she just looks away a mixture of hurt and guilt flashes across her face before it is hastily replaced by her usual emotionless mask. That's when he realises that is must be a mixture of Clint's and Tony's.

Wordlessly he removes all the blood and guides her to her feet and onto her chair. "Bruce… he'll make it right? Don't lie to me I want the truth" asks Natasha her voice hesitant at first but grows warningly towards the end of her question.

"I don't know… I… I've never seen anything quite like this before" admits Bruce hanging his head and rubbing the back of his tense neck.

"Well give me something! What are his chances?" asks Natasha, he voice growing desperate although her face doesn't reveal anything anymore.

"Well… if he continues to deteriorate at the rate that he has been all his vital organs could begin to fail, his lungs and heart have already taken a beating. I don't know how much more his body can take of this poison I mean he's stable at the moment but the longer he goes without treatment the bigger the risk…" Bruce starts but his voice falters and stops

"The higher the risk of what?" Natasha asks sharply, her blue eyes boring into Bruce's brown ones with such intensity the doctor takes a small step back.

"The higher the risk of the poison eventually affecting his brain or damaging more of his vital organs, and him never being able to recover from this medically induced coma." Bruce spits out bitterly like a bad taste and he looks away.

They sit by the archer's bed side. Neither avenger says a word for hours but neither of them dares to sleep. Hours later it's Natasha who eventually breaks the silence "This was meant for me" she utters quietly, almost in a whisper.

"What?" asks Bruce narrowing his eyes and looking over towards Natasha.

"The poison… It wasn't meant for him. That arrow had my name on it, it should be me lying there not him, he doesn't deserve this" whispers Natasha, her face crumpling but she turns away so Bruce can't see her face.

"Stop that. Don't think like that for a second Nat" replies Bruce sternly reaching out to her and tucks a lose strand of red hair behind her ear.

"I can't help it. I wish it'd hit me instead!" Says Natasha her voice rising

"Stop right there! How could you say something so ungrateful, he took that arrow for you at least try .I bet my life that if you were lying there instead of him he'd being saying the exact same thing" replied Bruce his voice angry but his expression still gentle.

They return to their silence and both fix their eyes back to Barton who lays motionless on the bed, he breathing steadied by the ventilator.

Around sun rise when the orange morning rays has begun to stream through the closed blinds, illuminating the room with broken streams of light which reflects over the exhausted avengers. Bruce gets up to open the blinds and to make him and Natasha a fresh pot of black coffee when Jarvis announces that they have an incoming call from the aircraft's radio.

"Accept the call Jarvis" replies Natasha before Bruce can.

A crackling sound rips through the air "copy… do… you…." A voice croaks out over the room's built in communication system, _Steve's voice_ Thinks Natasha.

"Does anyone copy?" says Steve over the radio, his voice much clearer now but it sounds odd, strained almost. They can hear the wind howling the background.

"Yeah cap, we're here" Answer Bruce tiredly rubbing his eyes.

"How's agent Barton?" asks Steve trying not to sound desperate but failing miserably, his voice sounds strained.

"Umm he's had a rough night, but he's somewhat stable now" answer Bruce not wanting to go into detail over radio _that's an understatement_ Think Natasha to herself

"Well I suppose that's good to hear" replies Steve, still sounding troubled.

" Cap? What's wrong? What's happened? Have you found the poison yet?" asks Natasha, spitting out questions after question, not waiting for an answer

There is tense silence over the radio. "Cap?" asks Natasha, she thinks the signal has cut out but she can hear Steve's hurried breathing.

"It's Tony… There's been an accident and he's hurt pretty bad" Replies Steve, leaving Bruce and Natasha silent. Only Clint's ICU machine dares to break the silence in the room.


	8. Chapter 8

The Avenger's Tower – Bruce's Lab – 8:52am –

Steve is perched on the edge of the paper strewn desk in the lab, his hands clenched against the edges of the solid wood desk trying to ease the panic in his head. He looks over to Thor, the god of thunder is fiddling with his hammer but when he thinks the others aren't looking he sneaks peaks at Clint's lying form, a sad expression clouds the god's handsome features. Natasha is still sat by Clint's bedside watching the archer's chest rise and fall, her face expressionless and unblinking; according to Bruce she hadn't moved from his side all night long, not even to eat, sleep or go to the bathroom.

The lab doors opens sharply making the three avengers snap their head around at the sudden noise.

An exhausted looking Bruce shuffles into the room, clutching a coffee cup in his right hand

"He's going to be fine, he's in recovery now, just a few cracked ribs, some minor grazes and bruising and a concussion. I think it was a case of it looked way worse than it was thankfully, he should be coming around soon" he says to the avengers with an apprehensive smile.

"Well thank God!" exclaims Steve unclenching his hands and running them through his unkempt blonde hair; a slight tense smile plays on his face

"Your welc…" Begins Thor seriously before catching sight of the expression Natasha throws him and gathers Steve wasn't actually thanking him.

"So is anyone going to tell me what actually happened to Stark?, it's not like him to be the damsel in distress" asks Natasha, turning towards Steve, who up until this point hadn't spoken more than a sentence since arriving back with an unconscious Tony in his arms.

All eyes turn to Steve and he feels his throat tighten and the hairs on the back or his neck stand up. He swallows to clear his dry throat "Um. Well I didn't actually see what happened but what I can guess was that Tony took his suit off and somehow triggered an explosion that threw him against a wall" Say Steve, not looking his team mates in the eyes.

"Why on earth did Tony take his suit off" asks Natasha raising an eyebrow.

"Um… I'm not…" Hesitates Steve

"Thor do you know why genius had his suit off?" asks Natasha cutting over Steve's dawdling.

"No I'm afraid not Miss Romanoff, I was busy at the time guarding the perimeter from further attacks" replies Thor scratching his chin, the dirt from underneath his usually pristine fingernails leaves a smudge on his sculpted chin.

Natasha's eye snaps back to Steve and with an expression that clearly says "don't bullshit me Rodgers" she glares at him, forcing the reluctant captain to open up.

"Well I think Tony must of… had another panic attack so maybe he took his suit off because he felt too hot or smothered and then he stumbled back and triggered the explosion. I didn't see it actually it happen but Jarvis told me his heart rate was high and he said that he thought he was having a heart attack" replies Steve looking down, even though Tony is okay he still feels awful for not looking out for him more. He also feels awful for ratting Tony out; Steve knows that Tony tries to hide his panic attacks and anxiety under layers of humour and sarcasm.

Natasha nods, allowing herself to feel bad for Stark, and then she is hit by a thought

"Bruce heard anything from the other lab's yet about an antidote?" she asks, her voice not hiding her desperation.

Bruce is leant over Clint's arm, ignoring the question momentarily, he checks the archer's arm wound to see that the inflammation has increased slightly and the black/red streaks has spread further up his arm, Blood poisoning.. _He hasn't got much more time left until it reaches his vital organs_ Bruce thinks to himself worriedly. He looks up to see that Natasha has been watching him, he looks into her eyes and knows instantly that she knows how little time the archer has, she raises her eyebrows questionably as if to ask "what now?"

"If it spreads anymore, I'm going to have to amputate his arm to buy him some more time" Answers Bruce looking at his shoes. The other avengers look horrified; Clint can't lose his bow arm. It would be like Thor losing his hammer, Steve losing his shield or Tony losing his suit.

"But I've sent samples off to every major laboratory I can think of and they are working against the clock to develop an antidote, apparently it is their top priority because the government is scared that Hydra will turn the poison into some sort of mass weapon and with no treatment the mass population is at risk. I'm also trying to develop something but it's not my area of specialty I'm afraid." Bruce's add hastily after seeing the look troubled expressions on his team member's faces. The three avengers nod and resume their poses, Steve sits on the desk, Thor paces and Natasha watches over Clint.

Bruce slips out of room, closing the door cautiously as not to disturb his friends and goes to check on Tony. Upon entering the room the sight he sees brings a smile to his face, Tony is awake and being lectured by Pepper over the phone, Tony spots him and gives him a unexpectedly cheerful smile and wave but grimaces because of the bruises on the left side of his face, holding the phone away from his ear he mouths "it's the misses", Bruce can hear odd phrases Pepper is screeching like "I was so worried… But you are okay?". Bruce smiles and mouths "shall I come back in a minute" to which Tony nods.

Bruce waits outside the door for a few minutes until he hears Tony call "I'm ready for my sponge bath nurse!" rolling his eyes and chuckling Bruce re-enters the room and says "I'm glad to see you're sense of humours intact, I can't say the rest for the rest of you Tony".

Tony rises a dark eyebrow "what's the verdict doc, will I still go onto Swan Lake?" He asks his voice dripping with friendly sarcasm.

Shaking his head Bruce picks up Tony's chart and begins to read through his injuries "Well Tony you have accumulated an impressive amount of injuries…"

"Well I do aim to please" Tony cuts in with smirks which Bruce responds to with another eye roll and continues reading.

"Well firstly you broke your nose in two different places…"

"Correction doctor doom, Romanoff broke my nose in two different places" Tony cuts in again.

Bruce just shakes his head and says "For someone with a concussion you still manage to be exceptionally irritating… anyway you have a mild concussion, three left broken ribs, which luckily do not require surgery to be set, a dislocated shoulder and major bruising to most of your upper left side. So you'll need plenty of bed rest over the next few weeks" Finishes Bruce.

"What about Barton, any news on him? Did we find it?" Tony asks suddenly in a rush remember about the fallen archer, he goes to sit up and winces.

Carefully pushing Tony back down into his bed Bruce updates him on how Steve found the poison shortly before he triggered the explosion and on Clint's condition and how he is now waiting on an antidote. "Well what are we waiting for, let's go make an antidote!" Tony exclaims, again trying to get out of bed, wincing in pain as he does so.

"Tony! You need to rest; besides we have the best laboratories in the world working on it and poisons aren't my strong suit anyway" Exclaims Bruce, once again pushing Tony back into bed.

"Well I can't sit here and do nothing!" Tony exclaims scowling at the doctor.

"Fine, rest for a few hours at least then I'll wheel you down to the lab and you can help me" Bruce sighs, knowing Tony will still hate it.

"Or… you could wheel me down there know and we could get cracking?" pushes Tony, his dark eyes fixed intensely on Bruce's tired ones.

"You really don't take no for an answer do you?" asks Bruce, shaking his head

"No can't say I have" replies Tony with his usual smug grin.

"Alright fine, but I'll have to get Thor to push your wheelchair" Says Bruce, laughing at how fast Tony's grin faded.

"No Rodgers, he's less loud and my head is killing me" requests Tony.

"Oh right, you need to take your pain killers" Remembers Bruce suddenly, he passes Tony a mixture of blue and red pills.

Tony accepts them with no argument, for once, and Bruce calls Thor in the room and minutes later both Thor and Steve walk into the room.

"Hey Thoreal Paris! And look who else came to see me the one and only Stevie Wonder!" bellows Tony, grinning widely.

"Glad to see you are feeling better" says Steve relieved as the sight of Tony smiling but he is troubled at the sight of Tony's visible bruises on his face and left side and his arm in a sling.

"Man of metal I am also immensely delighted to hear of your swift recovery!" Boom Thor, but underneath the wide grin the worried look on his face remained.

"Well now we're all caught up, help me out of bed guys I've got work to do" says Tony, the grin on his face is hastily replaced be a more serious expression.

"Tony don't you want to let your painkillers kick in a bit more?" asks Bruce, concerned for him.

"No, no time" States Tony.

Steve and Thor get to work helping Tony out of bed which causes a great deal of grunting, jaw clenching and swearing from Tony much to Steve dismay, but he refuses any offer of more pain relief or rest. When he is finally in the wheelchair his usually tanned skin is greyish and pale from the pain of being moved.

"Ready?" Asks Steve politely, positioning himself behind the wheelchair.

A grey Tony just nods and Steve begins to wheel him towards the elevator before Tony holds his un-bandaged right hand. "I want to see Clint first" He requests, his face showing concern.

"Um he doesn't look to good right now buddy" Replies Steve, hoping he will decide against it because it could bring on another panic attack for Tony.

"I don't care, he is my friend and I want to visit him before I create an antidote" Tony stubbornly insists, crossing his arms (well arm).

"You never take no for an answer do you Stark" says Steve shaking his head.

"Can't say I ever remembered a time where that has occurred Rodgers" Answers Tony.


End file.
